


Trouble

by xAwkward_Ariesx



Series: Crossovers [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Dimension Cannon, Dimension Travel, Dimension-Hopping Rose, F/M, Temporary Character Death, Time Travelling Spell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2019-10-28 13:16:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17788094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xAwkward_Ariesx/pseuds/xAwkward_Ariesx
Summary: Vampire Diaries - Doctor Who CrossoverA spell gone wrong leads to two blonde girls - who should never have met - running through the universe together. There's only one way to describe chaos like that: Trouble.





	1. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

**Chapter Name:**  This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.  
**Chapter Number:** One.  
**View Point:**  Caroline.  
**Set:** Parallel Universe (mainly).

Caroline should have never have agreed to this crazy plan. But they were desperate. They had tried everything they could think of. It was Bonnie who had suggested it after going through her grimmoires one day. Damon had agreed almost immediately. And just like that the plan had been set in motion.

It had happened so suddenly that Caroline didn't even get time to protest.

No one thought to consider the possibility of the spell going wrong. They had so much faith in their little witch and so little options. But faith wouldn't stop things from going down hill.

The spell was supposed to send Caroline back in time. To just before the Mikaelsons were turned into vampires. It was up to Caroline to ensure they never became vampire, or kill them if they did. It didn't happen like that.

Caroline stood in the woods behind the Salvatore boarding house with Bonnie chanting in a foreign tongue. The flames from the strategically placed candles roared, standing at an alarming height. The full moon shone brightly in the sky providing very little light.

Caroline almost didn't notice the change. Having had to stand still in near silence for nearly ten minutes she had gotten bored. Luckily, she did notice the change in the wind, having been so gentle before it was unnoticeable, now it was swirling around her stirring up leaves and ruffling her skirt and hair.

The wind got stronger lifting more leaves up in to the air and whipping more of Caroline's hair into her face. Suddenly the wind changed. No longer did it swirl around her like her own personal tornado. Now it tugged at her hair and skirt. As if the wind was trying to suck her into the very ground she stood on. Caroline panicked for all of a second at the change before relaxing. Bonnie would have told her if there was way the spell could go wrong, wouldn't she?

Caroline's vision began to blur. The greens of leaves bled into the black of the sky. Soon none of the colours were recognisable and all she could see was white. The ground gave way and Caroline was falling through a blinding white that scrambles her heightened senses.

Her instincts were screaming at her to grab something to prevent her from falling. But considering a fall wouldn't kill her and the fact there was nothing to grasp just the cool air that whizzed around her, she did nothing.

She tumbled through the blinding white seeing no possible end to it. The air almost felt electric as her skin tingled.

And then, just like that, it stopped.

She stumbled as her feet suddenly came into contact with ground with a thump. She was glad that her vampire abilities allowed her to regain balance so quickly. However, she quickly wished that they hadn't. Maybe then, she would have had more time to absorb the fact that she was in a completely different place.... just not the correct one.

Her hair caught in the wind as she spun around trying to figure at when and where she was. But the barrage balloons that floated proudly above was scrambling her brain and she could get past the fact that there were _actual_  barrage balloons _right_ in front of her.

"You alright there!?" A female voice called with a thick London accent.

Her head whipped towards the source of the voice. Only to find a blonde woman - about twenty - staring at her an amused grin painted across her lips with her tongue poking between her teeth.

"You look a lil lost! I know the expression pretty well." The voice called again a knowing expression filling her features.

Caroline bit her lip. Trying to decide whether or not to trust this stranger. She didn't know where she was. But this woman clearly did. For all she knew, this could be her first stroke of luck today, she might be fully acquainted with strange and unusual... or she could think she was completely crazy. A sigh managed to escape through her lips. She throw her head back staring at the strange skyline.

But it seemed the decision had been made for her. During her moments of indecision, the blonde had come closer and was now right besides her. Even with all of her heightened vampire senses she didn't notice her until she placed a hand on Caroline's shoulder, causing her to jump. The woman's eyes were filled with concern and an odd look of understanding, hidden deep behind her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"Where am I?" Caroline managed to ask.

"I'm judging by the accent you're not from around here?" Caroline shook her head, the woman nodded, lost in thought as she stared at the city before her. "You're in London." She answered simply.

"London! It certainly doesn't look like the photos." Caroline exclaimed in disbelief.

"Why? What does your London look like? Or your America even?" She asked curious, with hope in her eyes for a reason Caroline couldn't place.

"Well..." She said thinking. "London's known for its red double decker buses - not its barrage balloons - for starters."

"What year?" She interrupted.

"What?"

The blonde rolled her eyes.

"Just answer."

"2011. But what does tha-"

"It's 2007 here." She nodded to herself as if considering something. "How did you get here?"

The look Caroline received was assessing, she felt as though her soul was exposed.

"I'm not sure you'd believe me."

The blonde laughed.

"I just told you it was four years into your past and asked what 'your' America looked like. There are very few people who would believe you and not sign you off as a lunatic, it just so happened I ran into you on my lunch break rather than anybody else. So. How did you get here?"

Caroline had to admit she made a good point. In fact this strange woman was handling the whole debacle far better than she, as if this was an average day for her. Or perhaps it was. In the same way the supernatural had become the norm for her.

She didn't see another option here. Disbelieving she may be at first, she certainly seemed to know something that Caroline didn't.

She took a deep breath to steady herself before launching into her explanation.

"My friend was trying to do a spell that would send me into the past. And well it seems to have worked just not as far back as we hoped."

"A spell?"

Caroline groaned, in frustration. "I told you you wouldn't believe me."

"Your friend - I'm guessing is a witch, sorcerer or something - was trying to send you into the past, how far back were you aiming for? Yet you end up here in a London you don't recognise, in the wrong time. I think you got a little more than you bargained for. Never mind that now. Come with me. We should be able to get you home."

Caroline watched in a state of shock as the blonde wheeled off all this information before spinning on her heel and marching down the street. It took her a moment to register that the stranger was actually walking away and so was her chance to get back home. Shaking herself free - she blamed the time spell for her slow processing - she darted after the woman. She caught up second later.

"Um so where are we going?"

The answer came in the form of a secretive smile she received. And it seemed that was the only answer she was going to get before the blonde's strong cockney accent washed over her again.

"You'll see."

Which turned out to be even less helpful than the smile.

* * *

 

It didn't take long to reach their destination - which appeared to be the acclaimed Canary Wharf - the still unnamed blonde strode through multiple scanners and check points with ease and confidence, deflecting questions about Caroline's presence with a sense of authority.

Caroline didn't know much about this woman or this time but she was clearly in her element here, it almost reminded her of the way she took charge of planning committees and the cheer squad, so completely enthralled in the process because if you dared hesitate they'd dive on you like sharks. Not that this was similar to high school at all, but she had to find comfort in the unknown somehow.

Before she knew it, they'd passed security and were tucked safely into an elevator - or lift as they called it over here. The journey was silent and Caroline was glad she wasn't easily unnerved or prone to nervous fiddling, or she would have lost all sense of decorum moments earlier.

The elevator doors opened soundlessly to reveal a room of gleaming metal tables, countless wires strewn throughout - some of which where connected to computers, odd looking platforms and people adorned in lab coats rushing about. It appeared to be a laboratory. Caroline stepped out unsurely, where as the blonde stalked straight over to one of the bespectacled men bent over a monitor. What sort of landmark had it's own science division?

"Malcolm I need you to check for any recent disturbances in the vortex boundary."

"Miss Lewis, I don't thin-" Another man tried to interrupt.

"Are you questioning my authority Dale?" Came the blunt reply, Caroline could see a cold kind of rage hidden behind amber eyes.

"Th-there is so-something ma'am. Possibly just an anomaly picked up by the computers p-probably nothing to be concerned with. But you did ask so maybe it could be. Its rather difficult to measure these thing, very temperamental might jus-"

"Thank you Mr Taylor!" The sudden panicked drivel stopped. "Keep me updated."

"I'm sorry. Vortex boundary?"

"Who the bloody hell are you?" Dale demanded.

"Miss Ryan is with me, we will be working on the project together. That's enough questions, set up the quarantine pod for her."

"Yes ma'am." An astute brunette spoke up.

"Thank you." She nodded to them. "Notify me when its ready." 

She turned back to the elevator, shutting out the lab as they went back up. They stopped on a floor of offices, the blonde chose one seemingly at random as each looked identical. Caroline followed nonetheless.

"Sorry just got to fill out some paperwork. Won't be a tick." She said refilling through the stacks, the disorganisation of the office was pulling at her inner control freak, demanding to be satisfied in a spontaneous cleaning spree.

Instead, she nodded absent mindedly, her thoughts casting back to the conversation downstairs.

"Quarantine pod?"

"Uh yeah. Its um... Its just a safety procedure, nothing to worry about we just can't be sure how exactly you got here, is all."

"Right."

* * *

 

Quarantine was a fairly dull procedure. Standing in a metallic cylinder as you were sprayed with odd smelling chemicals for several minutes was not her idea of fun but neither was going Mikaelson hunting. The regretful smile she received from Miss Lewis prevented her from voicing any complaints though. 

All technical stuff aside, they made they're way back through security. They settled into the blonde's car and a short trip through London later they were stopped outside a small stone house.

"You'll be staying with me, if that's alright? At least for today anyway, I can get Torchwood to set something set up for ya but it could take a while." She chattered as she busied about shuffling magazines, shifting cushions and kicking shoes back by the door.

"And Torchwood is where we just were? Sorry you never said who you were?"

"Right yes! Sorry. I swear I used to be better at this. Rose Tyler." She introduced finally with a smile.

"Caroline Forbes. But they called you Miss Lewis?"

Her smile faltered.

"Yes. They did. I may have lied. A little."

Caroline immediately tensed, her arms crossing in defensive. "About?"

"I said I wasn't sure how you got here but I already had a pretty good idea of what'd happened when we first spoke."

"What? What happened?"

"At first I thought it was just some sort of teleport gone wrong, but then you didn't recognise London and you said abou' a time spell."

"But I have traveled back! You said it was 2007."

"What do you know of the multiverse theory?"

Caroline was stumped. What did that have to do with anything?

"Not much. Sci-fi isn't really my thing."

"Yeah didn't used to be mine either. I think your friend made a mistake, I don't know how but she sent you to parallel universe at the same point in time as your own. Travelling sideways, rather than backwards."

"But it's 2007?" Caroline reiterated.

"Yes. Parallel universes don't all move at the same speed. What could be a month in one could be a year in another. Each universe is held in place by fixed points that can't be changed with or without time travel, those points are pivotal for each universe and to change them would cause that universe to collapse. The points are different for each universe they're usually within a decade or two of each other but that's what causes the temporal differences. Our universes are running parallel just not necessarily at the same speed. And you're lucky really, of all the universes to crash land in it happened to be the one where we're experimenting with dimensional travel."

"You knew what I was talking about though? With the whole London thing, how could you know if travel through the multiverse isn't done?"

"It used be possible but it is since impossible, I got here by accident and am trying to get back. The technology isn't perfect but previous attempts lead to damaging both universes. This new method is similar to putting a needle through a balloon, done correctly no damage is caused but if not..."

"You destroy them both."

"It can happen though it's usually not that bad, it tends to be a slow growing problem. And while it is safe, a tear makes it easier to travel between the two."

"That's what you got Malcolm to look for?"

"Exactly." She suddenly shifted as if remembering where she was and with who as she immediately closed up again. "It's getting late you should probably get some rest. You can borrow something of mine to wear tonight and we'll sort it out tomorrow."

Caroline nodded, it was a logical plan. It hadn't hit Caroline that she had no possessions aside from the clothes on her back. They hadn't stopped to consider things like clothes or money when they'd been planning this trip into the past, more concerned with the magical aspects of the journey and how to dispose of the Originals than the practicalities.

"Thank you, you didn't have to do this."

She gave a soft smile, one tinged with nostalgia.

"It's no problem. I'll show you to the guest room and let you get settled in while I sort out those clothes."

She was shown to a large plum fully furnished guest room. It was surprisingly elegant considering it hadn't seen any occupants since Rose became the owner, that much she could tell. Everything looked rather expensive especially considering she wasn't of this universe.

"Sorry this is all I've got, not used to guests as I'm sure you've realised." She handed the stack of sleeping clothes over. "I'll wake you in the morning."

She then disappeared back into the corridor without further comment. Caroline withheld the thank you that sat on the tip of her tongue. Snapping her mouth shut she brushed off the peculiar behaviour and made use of the en suite. She was surprisingly haggard from such a short day. Maybe the spell had effected her more than she'd realised.

She was settled under the covers moments later, letting darkness consume her and pull her into oblivion.

* * *

 

The next day Rose came to wake her as promised at seven, but Caroline had risen an hour earlier, much to the surprise of her host. It looked like it was going to be a rather slow day, once they'd gotten through security and back down to the R&D department. Caroline sat off to the side while Rose argued with someone in a white coat.

"I'm sorry ma'am but it's not possible to jump today. It's still unstable due to the recent breach, we will need to wait before we add more things to the mix."

"Well there's got to be something! Anything come on about field missions?"

"Not as of yet ma'am, it seems you've had a wasted journey."

Rose growled under her breath as she dropped her head into her hands. Caroline wondered what she'd left behind, there was a sense of desperation to her actions. She drew herself up second, all composure and cool façades.

"Thank you Mina."

The rest of the day was spent shopping and buying any and all necessities Caroline might need in her time in this parallel universe. She'd picked out dresses and skirts when Rose pointed something out to her.

"You might want to chose something more practical, there's a lot of running about even when you try to avoid it."

Caroline faltered with a summer dress in her hands, she'd forgotten that while vamp speed wasn't effected by her clothing choices, running certainly was. And she'd need to at least appear human.

"I don't know, I'm pretty good in a pair of heels." She joked, only semi-serious.

Rose smiled.

"It doesn't matter if you can run a marathon in stilettos, most people can't and we're already travelling to places we don't belong, you don't want to draw any more attention to yourself than necessary. Trainers are about to become your best friend."

Caroline gave a confused glance, still debating over the dress.

"Uh sneakers?" Rose tried again.

A look of understanding suddenly washed over her.

"Oh." She finally put the dress down, grabbing a pair of jeans instead. 

Clothes chosen there were no further problems until it came to paying.

"Money."

"What?"

"I don't have any money, at least nothing in this currency."

Rose chuckled.

"It's fine I've got it."

The whole situation was bizarre, she was supposed to be a thousand years in the past but instead here she was shopping in a parallel London. It then occurred to her that she could have compelled herself her items before a voice reminded that she was supposed to be lying low, not revealing herself as non-human when her only connection to this universe worked with some government organisation that dealt with the non-human. And while compulsion would have been easier she didn't much fancy being dissected like a lab rat.

But she'd never been great at lying, it was bound to catch up to her.


	2. II. Lessons on the Void

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls get closer and take their first trip together.

**Chapter Name:** Lessons on the Vortex.  
**Chapter Number:** Two.  
**Viewpoint:** Caroline.  
**Set:** Parallel Universe.

Caroline had been living in the parallel universe for almost a week and a half now. She'd settled into a somewhat familiar routine. Rose went to Torchwood tower nearly every day for whatever paperwork or assignment called her in, and each day she seemed to become just that little bit more agitated by the lack of progress with the dimension cannon (which Caroline had come to learn was the name of the device that would allow them to get home), apparently the problem extended beyond the small rip between the universes and was instead a technical issue.

There wasn't much for her to do aside from waiting around for Rose to finish filling out forms so she often spent the time staying in the small home researching everything about this universe and the multiverse theory. It wasn't much but it gave her something to do and she was nothing if not curious. There wasn't much to go on, it was as Rose had suggested, a largely undocumented field, mainly theories but nothing concrete.

It seemed Torchwood had most of the answers.

Rose had chuckled when she'd asked if she could have a look at the research for the dimension cannon, but obliged nonetheless. Apparently, the group assigned to the dimension cannon project were more than happy to share their research. Working for a top-secret government institution meant any scientific developments were also kept a secret, giving them no opportunity to brag about their superior intelligence. They were a stuck up bunch of assholes but their research was flawless so Caroline let their personality pitfalls fly this once.

Caroline understood the basics of it but a lot of it seemed to be just filling in the gaps where knowledge and evidence were lacking.

The rest of her time she spent cleaning, organising and general upkeep of the property. The other blonde clearly didn't spend much time there but seemed to be making an effort for her guest.

Rose was already there when Caroline returned with the groceries, she was refiling through one of the many stacks of paper scattered throughout the building. The woman often brought her work home with her and left it in a disorganised mess, it drove Caroline mad. How did she ever find anything? The answer was she didn't, as she was currently proving.

"Ah, Caroline! They've finally set up an apartment for you. It's completely funded by Torchwood and frequently monitored. I can take you now if you want." She spun round to stare into the kitchen. "If I can find where I left the details."

"I'm good."

"Hmm?" She asked spinning back around, finally looking at her.

"I'd rather stay here, if that's alright?" She put the groceries down on the carpeted floor to cross her arms over chest, vampire or not some insecurities still clung to her and the need to be wanted was definitely one. "I mean I don't know anything about this universe, I'm not a fan of the whole having every action monitor and plus it looks like you could maybe use the company?"

Every line of her body was pulled taut with tension, she sincerely hoped she hadn't overstepped the mark.

Rose face was blank, too many emotions flitted through her eyes but never settling on one.

"You want to stay?"

"If that's alright?"

A grin slowly stretched across her lips.

"That'd be brilliant." She seemed to catch herself as it quickly dropped and she began adjusting the couch cushions. "What d'ya get?"

The casualness of the question struck her for a minute before she remembered the groceries at her feet.

"Oh, just a few groceries. You don't seem to have anything in."

"Yeah, I don't come home that often, tend to stay in the office."

"That can't be healthy."

"You sound like my mum." She chuckled.

"I bet you miss her," Caroline said absentmindedly as she rehomed the groceries.

"Nah she got stuck here with me."

The blasé manner which she delivers those words throws Caroline off balance for a moment, causing the can of soup to slip through her fingers barely an inch before her vampire reflexes kicked in.

"Oh." She says, stalling as she attempts to gather her racing thoughts. "I guess she's leaving too then?"

"No, she married to this universe's version of my dad."

This time the can does fall. She's so flabbergasted that she forgets about the can's existence, as she whirls around to face the direction of the living room.

"What?"

Rose took one look at Caroline's shocked face and winced. Caroline would hazard a guess that the young Brit often forgot how far her life actually was from normal.

"It's... Complicated. My dad died in my original universe when I was a baby. And this universe's version of my mum died. They were lucky to find each other again, sometimes I even think they were a better match for each other than the originals."

Caroline suppresses a shiver at the mention of originals, the sudden reminder of why she'd ended up here in the first place was an unwelcome one. But Rose's sudden admission gave her something else to focus on.

"You must live one hell of a life."

"Yeah, I guess." Her smile is small and filled with far too much sadness and nostalgia. "I should probably tell them you don't want the apartment. Unless you change your mind?"

Caroline shook her head, the last thing she needed in this universe was to come under fire for being a vampire. Plus she hadn't lied when she said she liked Rose and she really looked like she needed someone.

"I'm sure."

\- x -

Months past by and soon enough it was just Caroline in a too empty house in an unfamiliar universe. They'd gotten the dimension cannon back up and running so now Rose disappeared for days at a time doing whatever the hell it was the Torchwood did. Sometimes Caroline would go with her when it was just supposed to be a short trip and well she didn't exactly have anything else to do.

Some days were better than others. Sometimes Rose would return with a spring in her step and a new found hope in her eyes. Other days she'd return from a mission - having been gone for weeks - littered with all manner of cuts and bruises and a haunted look in her eyes as if she'd seen the fall of empires and the destruction of civilisations. But on the worst days, Rose wouldn't return instead a ghost wearing her skin would, all hope and light drained from her very soul, leaving a shell in its wake.

Those were the days that left Caroline bristling with anger, rage directed at the institution that pushed this woman constantly too far, furious with Rose for not caring about her life enough to fight back, for letting herself be treated as nothing more than a tool. But most of all, she was angry that she recognised the treatment, the way Bonnie was constantly pushed because of her magic, no matter how draining it was no matter how much she'd lost. And while she couldn't currently help Bonnie, she could help Rose.

Which was what helped her decide on this course of action...

It was one of those days, wherein Caroline had joined Rose in the R&D department as she prepared for one of her 'jumps'. Caroline watched as the technobabble flowed freely and the blonde was hooked up to all manner all of machines. Rose never seemed to fidget no outward sign of worry, but she got more authoritative, commands flying left, right and centre, leaving no room for error, her tone was cold and serious. An act Caroline recognise all too well.

She couldn't resist really, spontaneity had never been her forte but she couldn't stand being unproductive or watching her friends suffer. And she was all for efficiency and this was simply killing to birds with one stone.

 "I want to go with you." She piped up.

The smattering of scientists and technicians that had gathered around Rose fell silent as the woman in question regarded her with caution, but she could do nothing to hide her shock. Caroline had clearly caught her off guard.

"What?"

"With you. On the jumps. I want to get home too, and there's not exactly anything I can do here." She cut herself off before she divulged more to the curious onlookers. 

Nervous rambling had always been her downfall. That was why she had to plan everything, nerves were seen as a sign of weakness and she was the sheriff's daughter for god's sake.

"Miss Ryan I don't think that's wi-"

Rose raised her hand to signal that this was very much not Dale's business and he was still not in charge so please would he shut up. A conversation they'd had so often - even just since Caroline had arrived - that words were no longer needed.

"Are you sure you've thought this through? Because this isn't a simple and safe procedure, we could end up anywhere, even the middle of a battlefield. And I'd really rather get you back in one piece."

"I'm sure." Injecting the words with as much confidence as she could muster.

"Right, then." She beamed at Caroline, before turning back to the lingering crowd. "Alter the equations to account for the additional weight, if you would."

"Ma'am the alterations will take a couple of hours to complete before it would be safe."

"Okay, enough time for me to run Caroline through field protocols. Call me when it's done!" She called over her shoulder as she strode to the elevator.

Caroline hopped down off of the barren table and followed after her.

As the doors slid shut, encasing the two of them, Rose spoke up. All confidence was gone, just a touch of nervousness and worry in its place.

"Are you sure about this Caroline?"

"Yes. Not to undermine your experience or whatever, but I worry about you being out there on your own. I don't know what the hell you've seen out there but I know it can't be good if it gets you to react the way you do sometimes. You just go silent for days and every sound makes you flinch. And I know this won't change that, but at least you won't be on your own in your trauma."

"I can't ask you to do that Caroline. Not for me."

She turned to look at her, looking her straight in the eyes as she spoke.

"Yeah, well I want to." She turned to look back at the gleaming doors. "And I've never really been much of anywhere, and while it's no vacation in Paris, it certainly is something."

"Yeah. Yeah, it is." And there was that smile the one that was both soft yet filled with so much sadness and nostalgia, that Caroline couldn't help but wonder what she'd left behind.

The doors peeled open and they stepped out into what appeared to be a darkly lit training room.

"Do you know how to use a gun?"

"Uh yeah." She answers momentarily caught off guard. "Mom was the town sheriff."

"Sheriff." Rose chuckles, fiddling with a gun much bigger and more foreign that Caroline was used to. "Keep forgetting you're American."

"Problem with that."

"Nah." She answers with a smile, handing over the gun. "I don't like using the real things, got a thing about guns, but these will stun just about most anything. You can change the dial to account for the size of the lifeform but other than that it's pretty simple. So let's see what your aims like."

Caroline freezes for a second, having not expected to be handed a gun so soon without some long speech. Rose gestures her forward and she sees the targets at the other end of the room. She shrugs to herself, she hasn't held a gun since she'd turned but she expected that would be an advantage rather than a hindrance to her aim.

She lifted the gun, getting it level as she aimed at the first target before she fired the first shot. Hitting the target squarely in the chest before moving on to the next then the next and then the next. Repeating the process quicker and quicker each time, her aim not faltering once.

Rose nodded with an impressed little smile as she finished with the last target.

"No tips needed there then. Just safety procedures to move onto, assuming you know basic self-defensive?"

"A little more than basic. My dad was pretty obsessed with that kind of thing."

"Safety precautions it is then."

\- x -

They spent the next three hours going over all the millions of different safety precautions and do's and don'ts for travelling to parallel universes with complex and alternative cultures. Before they were called back down to the basement levels, where they proceeded to check over Caroline's vitals and a million other things before shoving her onto the raised platform with Rose.

"Sorry, this is going to be a little cramped." Rose apologised as the transparent sides sealed them in.

The capsule could probably hold three people at a push but it was better designed for one.

Outside the capsule, they began the countdown. Rose grabbed Caroline's hand, she couldn't tell if it was out of comfort for herself or to reassure Caroline, but she appreciated all the same.

"1, 0."

Caroline's vision went white and she tightened her grip on Rose's hand as she felt the world fall away from her. God this was worse than the first time. It was similar to that nauseating feeling you get when you dream of falling but ten times worse and since becoming a vampire, Caroline had become rather out of practice with dreams. She felt like she was burning up and being torn apart at the same time as plummeting to her death. Logically, she knew she could survive the fall, so long as she didn't lose anything vital. But logic had never won out over instinctual fears before and it continued not to now.

And suddenly her vision was returned to her, just as suddenly as she'd lost it. She landed on her feet but the disorientation and nausea left her falling to her knees as she wretched pointless into the grass.

And then there Rose was. Kneeling beside her, a comforting presence, as she rubbed Caroline's back.

"You alright? The first time is always the worst. It's part of the reason we don't let anyone else do the jumps."

She gagged and coughed before she was able to draw air back into her lungs, and while not strictly necessary, it was rather helpful in trying to ground her.

"Yeah, fine." She gasped, pulling her feet under her, as Rose helped with a hand on her arm. "God that's awful. And you do that willingly?"

Rose laughed.

"Guess I'm just barmy."

"Well, I'd certainly believe it." She said, rubbing her temples, god when was the last time she'd drank. She'd completely forgotten what with trying to lay low, plus her stay in the parallel universe had a unique impact on her hunger.

"Come on, we don't have long so we need to discern whether or not this is the correct universe before we get pulled back."

"So we're just scoping the place out?"

"Guess so."

A quick trek leads them to a village. The small huts are built from colourful woods and the design is completely unique - shaped like an octahedron with the tip buried in the violet soil - obviously not of earth design. The locals - quadrupedal, emerald, feathered beings - are flitting about between the huts carrying transparent baskets of produce in their teeth.

"Not Earth then." Caroline comments.

Rose grins at her.

"Your first alien planet, sorry we don't really have time for sightseeing." She starts making her way down the slope to the village.

"Hold on. You've been to another alien planet?"

Rose grins as she spins round to face her, still walking, she walks backwards as she speaks.

"Dozens. I used to travel with this..." Her smile falters, a glimmer of loss in her eyes. "This friend of mine." Spinning back around, an obvious tactic to hide her face.

"Must have been one hell of a bloke." She replies knowingly. "Or gal." She amends.

"What makes ya say that?" Her tone was purposefully casual.

"That's why you're trying to get home, isn't it? I mean you've got the family you always wanted already here yet you're fighting to get back. Why else would someone do that but love?"

"Maybe I'm a callous bitch with family problems that likes to use people for travel?"

Caroline laughs. She can't help it, it's the most ridiculous thing Rose has said to her ever. And she convinced Caroline that she'd jumped sideways into a parallel universe.

"What?" There's a smile on her face as she asks.

"You could use the dimension cannon to travel to every universe if you wanted to. You get to travel all over the place with Torchwood. And I've seen the way you talk about your brother. I know callous, heartless assholes and you're not one of them.

A deadly calm settles over Rose's features.

"I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"I don't know what the hell you've been through Caroline, but looks like hell and I'm sorry that I'm making it worse."

"I'm from a small town in the middle of nowhere, nothing ever happens there."

"Yeah. And I'm just a random shopgirl from the east end, nothing ever happened to me either."

They drop the subject - neither ready to admit to much of anything - and head towards the village. As they get closer they can hear the unrecognisable dialect of the locals. It sounds beautiful to Caroline's ear but she didn't speak anything more than French and English.

Rose approaches one of the locals and switches to their dialect. A rapid succession of foreign syllables with unique inflexions. Caroline watches enraptured at the easy way in which Rose interacts with these aliens. Well, they're not aliens, Caroline supposes, she and Rose are.

She bids farewell, allowing them to continue about their day, she heads back over to Caroline.

"The planet's called Norhy, according to the locals, probably has other names too though."

"You're good at that."

"At what?"

"Just the whole interspecies interacting thing."

"Yeah maybe. I was always better at the whole 'domestic approach thing' then."

"Where'd you learn the language anyway?"

"Oh. Right, um its a neural translator was a gift from a couple of Dejaaris we helped out. Torchwood reverse engineered the spare, we'll grab you one when we get back."

"So you hear English and they hear they're language? That's amazing. And when you say we..."

"Yeah, it is kinda brilliant. I mean myself and a small group of operatives."

"Rose Tyler, friend of the aliens."

"Yeah guess I am. We best step back, we should be pulled back any mo-"

Rose was cut off suddenly by the sharp tugging in their guts as they fell through the blinding void. It continued to be a bizarre experience for Caroline. The sensation of having no physical form yet still experiencing pain and which way was up and down.

She was almost sure she was going to pass out when suddenly she had form again, and it was currently slumped in a suddenly crowded pod.

Caroline groaned in pain and was thankful when Rose helped her to her feet, then off of the raised platform. Her head was pounding and there was that hunger that had been absent lately. She kept her eyes determinedly screwed shut not wanting to experience the too bright lights of the lab right now. 

Rose kept hold of her hand so as to ground her while relaying the necessary data from the short trip.

She whispered gently in her ear as she neared, not wanting to worsen her headache, to remind her of the decontamination process.

The cool spray of chemicals helped elevate the pain slightly, enough to open her eyes, but she knew she would still have to feed if she wanted to be free of it. How to do it without Rose's knowledge was the question? She certainly couldn't do it here at Torchwood. Perhaps she could suggest they ate dinner out for once, allowing for a change of scenery and for Caroline to get her much needed snack.

What had her life turned into? Feeding on wait staff after travelling to another planet in another universe thanks to a government-run organisation that specialed in extraterrestrial lifeforms. Maybe Rose was right, they were both going barmy. Whatever that meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I have managed to claw my way free of college work long enough to finally complete this chapter with my favourite blondes. Not much in the way of plot but the two of them have started dimension hopping together so more mischief can ensue.
> 
> Please leave your thoughts on this chapter in the comments below, they encourage me to write :)


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